Skipwith - Skipwith Common

Skipwith Common

Ancient remnants of sand dunes are a feature of Skipwith Common and the first indications of man's impact take the form of Bronze Age burial mounds 3000 to 4000 years old.

The lowland heath is entirely man-made, relying on land clearances followed by grazing, peat cutting etc. The Common has been a resource for local residents until relatively modern times as timber for building, turves and peat for fuel, bracken for bedding and soap production, reeds for thatching, rushes for bedding and floor covering as well as wicks for lighting, and the while grazed by cattle, sheep and geese amongst other things.

Only since grazing ceased in fairly modern times, have trees started to feature on the Common again. Before the First World War, the Common was almost treeless.

Presumably man has maintained his usage of Skipwith Common as the next phase of occupancy after the Bronze Age was Iron Age Man. He too left a whole series of burial mounds and a triple-bank system which runs roughly North South across the Common and links with an Iron Age settlement clearly visible as crop marks of hut circles and other features in fields directly adjacent to the Common on the Northern side.

The Anglians were present in this part of Yorkshire and the Romans also left their mark on the Common in the form of a Romano-British enclosure close to the Northern boundary overlooking present-day Skipwith village. The Vikings were also present in the area as they landed their long-boats at Riccall on the Ouse in 1066 and marched off to fight the Battle of Fulford. Skipwith is mentioned in the Domesday Book. In the reign of Henry III the manor of Skipwith was held by the de Stuteville family, who later took the name de Skipwith,

Two ponds close to Skipwith village on Common Road, called the Line Ponds, are believed to have been used for flax-retting (the process of immersing the flax stems in water to soften the outer husk before preparing the inner fibres to create linen). During the Second World War a bomber training airfield was constructed on the Western end of the Common and much of the infrastructure, one of the runways, and other features survive both on and adjacent to the Common on both North and South sides.

In 1957 (?) the area was declared a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and English Nature (latterly Natural England) have left their mark in the form of tree and scrub clearance aimed at bringing back the lowland heath that had been lost to silver birch regeneration. In 2009 the site was designated a National Nature Reserve.

The site is in excess of 600 acres of roughly 50% lowland heath and 50% woodland. Two types of heather are present and re-inhabiting the freshly cleared areas. Areas of swamp and mire, home to rare flora and fauna in which sphagnum moss is in evidence, together with fen and reed-beds, ponds, rushy areas and grass-land. An ancient breed of longhorn cattle, wild and hardy Hebridean sheep and Exmoor pony plus a herd of wild fallow deer and roe deer now graze the Common and help to prevent silver birch regeneration.